gehringer_2

That's not really the biggest impediment to winning though. You don't need one of the top two or three players in the league, just enough very good ones. Yzerman, Federov, Z, Datsyuk were never the premier player in the league in their time - maybe Lidstom was the best D man for a stretch. It's a team game.

Larkin's strengths are his close in shooting but even moreso as a playmaker. We should get more out of him as the players on the ice with him improve. I think Ras is fast enough at top speed. The question for guys his size is can you sustain the energy output to go at top speed enough of the time or at least learn to play smart enough to manage your energy output for the highest production.

It surely wouldn't hurt. It would probably give him more cover if maybe India made a stronger move first - you know it will really kill Xi to have to appear in the US 'camp' on anything

I also despaired he would ever gain sufficient command. But Joe's at the age where an improvement in command is something you want to give some run to. He was sort of the anti-Soto in that regard this year.

Veleno makes sense, it's sink or swim for him now - no point in him spending more time at GR. You'd rather know whether he can stick or not before the guys you sent down make their case to be brought back. I don't think Elmer even needs to do to that much scoring wise for them to be happy - just be really hard to play against. If Lalonde can get Ras and Soderblom both providing size with a hard edge, that should also open things up for Larkin's line in terms of match ups.

I think if you are XI, it's easiest to just play out the hand. You don't have to do anything - take Putins oil at a discount, don't give him any material support and when the war ends you are still whole. The West isn't going to sanction China just for buying Russian oil. Xi would certainly rather save Putin from himself - he prefers Russia as a strategic power that divides US military attention. If Putin succeeds in destroying Russian military power to where the Balts, Poland, Ukraine and Scandinavia don't even need US support to secure Europe for themselves, that's a worst case scenario for Xi. But it's not clear to me how much influence he or anyone can have on Putin's behavior. In the extreme case, China could stop buying Russian hyddrocarbons, which could well bring down the Russian government, but I just have a hard time seeing China passing up so much commercial advantage for any 'politics'.

So Jeimer is the only one where the dollars might seriously influence any decision. TBH, Jimenez is the only guy on the list I'd make any particular priority to bring back. The rest are all filler material. INow if someone would give me something in trade for Soto I would take it. And then maybe Meadows - assuming the team is able to come to some reasonable understanding and prediction of what he might be in 2023.

Ukraine needs to follow the same script they did with the Antonovsky bridge - hit it again as soon as the Russians put another munitions train on it.

When you create a propaganda state and then live in it long enough, you start to believe your own garbage is the reality. These attacks were stupid at any strategic level because as Lee says, they will do nothing to improve the Russian situation on the actual battlefield, plus it will surely catalyze the upgrading of Ukraine's capabilities on that battlefield in major ways. Much like the destruction of the pipelines, Russia focuses their energy on the symbolic aspect of an act while ignoring the concrete results the act will produce. Losers.

True enough. Then again, just to throw out a Devil's advocate possibility, for all we know the opposite could be true, and he's not going away because he wants to contribute because he doesn't want to take the money for nothing - in which case what the team may have to do is go out of its way to make the point to him that he has 'permission' so to speak, to take the money and retire - which might not be easy for the management to bring itself to do either! I'd guess there is a lot of opportunity for poor communication/misunderstanding in this situation.

Parameters I'd like to hope the org has the stats to look into: Are they helping guys acheive breaking ball spin rates that are putting them under more strain than average; or, are they 'unlocking' velo for guys they wouldn't ordinary achieve that is putting them under more arm stress or related to that, are they not fans of guys adding and subtracting from their FB, which may help save wear and tear.; or, are they just encouraging guys to throw more high arm stress breaking balls as their target pitch mix.

No question that for both Russia and China, it is their current relationship to the US that drives them together and agreed that China sees no value in a Russia that neuters itself as that eliminates its value as another counterweight to the US. But whereas Putin's opposition to "the West" is Messianic, Xi's is transactional. Xi's problem with the US is that we are an obstacle in his path. If we would get out of his way (so to speak) he'd lose interest in needing Russia as additional counterweight. That's obviously unlikely to happen but I make the point to argue that Xi's issue with the US is not so fundamental as is Putin's. If the US were willing to take an 'elder economic statesmen' sort of backseat to Chinese economic dominance, sort like England peacefully surrendered its status as leading world military power to the US in the 20th century, I think Xi would have no problem with us. The Chinese want to play in the world as the West has put it together right up the point of wanting to win in it. But to be against the West is Putin's raison d'être, to break the West is the totality of his world view and ambition. The Chinese aren't so interested in that. This may set a limit to how deep the alliance between China and Russia can ultimately be. There was an interesting piece done back in March at the 'war on the rock' webpage that lays out more or less this line of argument. Also points out that Xi is in the generation of Chinese party princelings that got a very Russo-philic education in the 50/60's and that it is part of what attracts him personally to Russia. A lot of other good stuff in the essay though - including that, both Russia and China expect a double cross from the other whenever expedient, as that has been the historical norm. ; ) China’s Strategic Assessment of Russia: More Complicated Than You Think - War on the Rocks

I used to hold that the under the bluster the Chinese tended to be very rational actors, and that overall the Chinese leadership since Deng was basically interested in the welfare of their population, which led them to be big on things that were extremely irritating like intellectual property theft, industrial espionage and currency/trade manipulation but generally did not include being a bad actor on the international stage because they didn't particularly care to even be engaged. But as Xi transitions into your garden variety imperialist cult of personality tyrant, I've pretty much tossed those assumptions away. All tyrants ultimately converge to the same playbook, which of course is "whatever insures I'm as firmly in control tomorrow as I am today." Any and all other values expressed in the state's conduct become subordinate or transactional to that overall imperative. And pretty much every tyrant sees the value in fomenting resentments against outside powers and thus will act to put themselves in opposition to the general international order. So long story short, with Xi I think we are past the point where we can assume he is interested in acting in China's best interests. He acts solely in his own.

they won't say it out loud because it would be positive PR for US leadership and we are in too adversarial a posture with China for that to happen. I don't actually care too much what they say, as long as they are not supplying material support. Likewise I'm sure China isn't thrilled with OPEC trying to raise prices either, but XI will swallow whatever price increases follow rather than present any kind of unified front with us.

sure, understood. These are just bits that are already out there of course....

The blackening on the remaining bridge deck would indicate a strike from above, roughly dead center into the collapsed section to the left. If the edges of a large hole are present in the two ends of the deck in the water that would pretty much prove the story.

Theiner's persuaded Kerch was another long range missle attack. Of course US still claims we have not provided ATACMS, but that's not the same as denying we have supplied various pieces the Ukranians could cobble into a long range weapon themselves. If the latter is true, then the question is what is their production capacity? Do Saki and Kerch represent that they have only been able to produce a minimal number of weapons, or is the issue that they are ATACMS but US has to sign off on each use?

Seems fair, he's belabored and exhausted us as baseball fans for going on six seasons now....

2nd half dominance a very good trait in a FB team. Stupid INT throw by JJ cost them a FG and the cover...LOL

That would be the easy result. The hard one will be if he comes to ST and does hit, and maybe again, hits for high average but little or no power again. So can you/will you make a roster spot for him knowing full well that the knee might put him back into a state of futility for the rest of the season at any time? This is going to test a lot of aspects of the organization to get right - their medical staff, training staff, evaluation of the players that will have to be let go if Miguel stays, etc. And even under the best imaginable circumstance where he is productive, I wouldn't try to play him more than 120 games so you have to consider how you fill the DH for those other 40 games.

Florida as the AARP chapter of Mississippi.

the most coherent explanation I have seen is a remotely or autonomously guided submersible that blew itself up under the span. Strategically, it would have been much more devastating to have dropped a section of the rail bridge, but the psychological impact of this should be shattering enough -- for the time being. Or just this....

and the official blows the call on a Michigan subsititution. And then a PI.

I'm hoping, maybe foolishly, that Hronek is a better player this year. He seemed to be skating in molassas last season and hopefully that was a physical deficit he has gotten over because he had been better than he was last season. Maata looks OK.

Erne had some nice shifts last night, but last year had to lower his stock. Also they may need the physical intensity that is Smith's calling card less on a team with more size.